‘Get back!’ Sebastian stretches an arm out to push me behind him. I stumble, pain ricocheting through every muscle.
Achates’ brows lift just slightly upon hearing Sebastian’s voice. His cloudy eyes cut to where we stand. A slow, cruel smile curls his lips. ‘Ah, my grandson,’ Achates drawls with mockery. ‘Move aside and hand over the girl.’
‘Over my dead body,’ Sebastian snaps, and the flames in his hands surge up to his forearms. I step back to avoid being burnt by them, but don’t stray far. ‘I know who you are and I won’t let you hurt anyone I care about again.’
The laugh Achates lets out is bone -chilling. Cold and devoid of emotion. ‘Oh, you foolish boy. You have no idea what you’ve done.’ He moves far quicker than I expect. His arms lift toward us. I feel it. The charge in the air, seconds before a torrent of Achates’ magic surgestoward us. We’re too close, I realise. We can’t outrun it, can’t hide. We’re standing in plain sight. All we can do is brace for the impact.
Sebastian spins and wraps his arms around my body, one of his hands curling around the back of my head, protecting me right as a force strong enough to steal the air from my lungs slams into us both and sends us flying backward. We crash into the side of the dais and crumple onto the ground. Sebastian takes the brunt of it, and I hear his deep grunt of pain against the side of my head.
‘Y-you knew about him?’ I croak against his chest, my throat tightening.
He pulls back, hovering over me. His eyes find mine. In them is a multitude of emotions. Fear, guilt, pain. I feel them all like fresh wounds being dug into my skin. But the anger of him not telling me is swallowed by my worry for him as a thick rivulet of blood trickles from his temple and down his face.
‘Your head is—’
‘I’m fine,’ he interrupts. Wiping it away with the back of his hand. ‘Ria, I need you to run,’ he says, almost pleading.
I shake my head. Groaning as I start to move, attempting to get up. My body screams in agony. I can feel blood seeping down my back. ‘Won’t … leave you,’ I promise.
Before Sebastian can reprimand me, he leaps to his feet and sends a torrent of fire that explodes from his fingers in Achates’ direction. It surges with incredible force, and Achates throws up a murky wall of air. The magic is strong, rippling across the room, making me gasp. But something is different, the potency of it is … less. As if whatever I did to him on the stairs has weakened him. Not by much, but enough for that place in my chest to notice.
Sebastian doesn’t relent. Heat blazes around him, and embers spark from his hands as he hurls flame after flame then slides a dagger from his belt and throws it. The dagger flies swiftly between them, with deathly precision. It cuts through Achates’ wall that’s sucking the life from Sebastian’s flames and penetrates his left shoulder.
Achates lets out a furious growl as his left arm drops. Half of the wall he created collapses. I feel it snuff out, like a weight being lifted off my chest. The drop of power makes me breathe easier. Which is how I finally push through the pain in my body and stagger to Sebastian’s side.
I snatch a second dagger from his belt and stand at his side.
‘What are you doing?’ he growls. Sweat and blood dampen his forehead and hair.
With a lift of my chin I say, ‘Helping kill the monster who took away my brother.’
His head snaps in my direction. His bright green eyes connect with mine. I see the conflict in them as my words sink in, watch as his jaw tenses.
‘If you fight, I fight,’ I vow. Showing him with my words, with my eyes, that I can handle this. Withhim. ‘Together?’
‘Together,’ he nods.
As one we spring into action. Achates tosses the dagger Sebastian threw at him my way. It’s carried on a gust of air. I block the dagger with my own, cutting it downward and knocking it away. It clatters to the ground.
Sebastian roars in anger, his magic surges, but this time, it starts to grow outward. Away from his body, like two giant snakes lashing out, whipping through the air angrily. My jaw drops, because for the first time, I feel it. Sebastian’s power. Strong and unyielding. It’s magnetic.Beautiful.
Achates’ eyes widen. Sebastian strikes. One of his fiery tendrils lashes out and whips at Achates’ side. The Star’s cry is loud. But he doesn’t fall. Instead, he returns the attack with an icy whip of his own magic.
The hilt of the dagger warms in my palm as I start to inch forward, just a little. My heart beats like a drum as they fight against one another. Each one of them is powerful, but one of them is obviously well trained for combat, while the other is a strategist. Achates knows how the mind works, and every so often he arcs a stream of magic my way, distractingSebastian. I dodge the attacks, barely. Moving out of the way as I desperately search for an opening. I have one dagger. One shot.
For a moment I swear I feel the ground tremble as their magic crashes together. Fear skirts up my spine as Sebastian’s flames start to dissolve, getting swallowed up by Achates’ air – snuffing the flames out little by little, until I see the conflict in Sebastian’s eyes. They meet mine as he looks between me and the monster in front of him.
Now, his eyes seem to say. Throw it now.
I do.
I let the blade fly, biting down on my cheeks, drawing blood as I stifle a cry when my shoulder screams in pain. It cuts an arc of silver across the smoke-filled air, right through a pocket of space that is void of magic, and thuds right into Achates’ chest. Not his head like I was hoping, but right in the middle of his chest – hopefully in his heart.
Achates stumbles back. His hand drops to his sides in shock. He looks down at the dagger in bewilderment. I watch in horror as he lifts a hand and wraps it around the hilt. Slowly, he starts to pull it from his flesh. Bright crimson blood gushes from the wound as the dagger unceremoniously drop s to the ground in a loud clatter.
Sebastian is suddenly beside me. Saying something in my ear as he picks me up and runs. I’m briefly aware of him taking us to the shadowy alcove of the broken tower. He’s speaking, but I can’t hear him – I’m too focused on the blood starting to dribble from Achates’ mouth. He coughs, and splutters. More green veins tear up his throat.
What the fuck is on those blades? Why is he reacting like that?
